After getting the first round jitters out of the way all racers were in full battle mode for the second set of heats Friday evening. With the qualifying points system in place it takes two good scores to make Sunday’s A-Mains, so those lucky enough to put in two clean runs on the first day have an advantage heading into tomorrow – in fact, three of the four Modified classes were swept on Friday!

When the Stadium Trucks hit the track, it’s Team Losi Racing’s Dakotah Phend versus everyone else. The Michigander sped off to a nearly 7-second gap on the field, with only defending National Champion Ryan Cavalieri joining him in the 18-lap club as Mike Truhe just missed it, leaving him in third. Things tightened up behind the two front-runners, with Steven Hartson edging out Billy Fischer and Jared Tebo for the fourth spot by less than a second!

Modified Stadium Truck – Round Two

Dakotah Phend – 18/6:13.366

Ryan Cavalieri – 18/6:20.063

Mike Truhe – 17/6:01.776

Steven Hartson – 17/6:04.096

Billy Fischer – 17/6:04.469

Jared Tebo – 17/6:04.972

Nolan Anderson – 17/6:08.216

Cody Hollis – 17/6:08.665

JR Mitch – 17/6:14.710

Jacob Haas – 17/6:16.904

It’s lonely at the top for Dakotah Phend, who takes the overnight TQ in front of a group that will surely shuffle after tomorrow’s final two rounds – four of the top ten drivers had runs outside of the top ten. In order for Ryan Cavalieri, Jared Tebo, or anyone else to unseat Phend from the front spot on the grid they’ll need to win both of tomorrow’s rounds with a faster combined time than what Phend recorded today. The biggest benefactor of today’s second round was Steven Hartson, who suffered a DNF in the first round but bounced back with a fourth-place finish to put him tenth overall going into the break.

Modified Stadium Truck – Overall (using 2 of 2)

Dakotah Phend – 0 points (0-0)

Ryan Cavalieri – 5 points (3-2)

Jared Tebo – 8 points (2-6)

Mike Truhe – 8 points (5-3)

Billy Fischer – 9 points (4-5)

Nolan Anderson – 14 points (7-7)

Tyler Vik – 17 points (6-11)

Cody Hollis – 19 points (11-8)

Jacob Haas – 20 points (10-10)

Steven Hartson – 20 points (16-4)

Just as Dakotah Phend did in Stadium Truck, Ryan Maifield moved one step closer to the overall TQ of Modified 2WD Short Course with another TQ run by beating his first round time by seven-tenths of a second. Dustin Evans once again notched below Maifield on the time sheets, pulling within three seconds as he also improved on his previous run. After a DNF in the first round by Kody Numedahl, he finished just a half-second behind Evans for the third spot to significantly improve his overall position and keep himself in the A-heat after tonight’s resort.

Modified 2WD Short Course – Round Two

Ryan Maifield – 17/6:09.962

Dustin Evans – 17/6:12.573

Kody Numedahl – 17/6:13.182

Ryan Lutz – 17/6:16.038

JR Mitch – 17/6:19.150

Cody Turner – 17/6:20.628

Chad Due – 16/6:01.555

Tanner Denney – 16/6:03.407

JP Richards – 16/6:21.107

Gary O’Brien – 15/6:02.750

The stage is set for a two-truck grudge match for the rest of the weekend, as Evans is the only one who seems to be able match Maifield on speed. While the top two spots look to be settled, Saturday will be important for everyone behind them and particularly for those currently sitting sixth through eight – each driver has one good, and one not-so-good, score from Friday that could be erased tomorrow.

Modified 2WD Short Course – Overall (using 2 of 2)

Ryan Maifield – 0 points (0-0)

Dustin Evans – 4 points (2-2)

Ryan Lutz – 8 points (4-4)

Chad Due – 10 points (3-7)

Cody Turner – 11 points (5-6)

Kody Numedahl – 14 points (11-3)

JR Mitch – 17 points (12-5)

Justin Gilkison – 18 points (7-11)

JP Richards – 19 points (10-9)

After absolutely dominating the first round, Ty Tessmann needed all six minutes of the second round two take his second TQ of the day. After charging hard to make up for a slow start, Tessmann nipped Ryan Maifield and Ryan Lutz by just two-tenths to put the D413 prototype securely in the provisional TQ spot overnight. Jared Tebo joined the top three in putting in 19 lap runs, while the remaining six drivers finished within just four seconds of each other!

4WD Modified Buggy – Round Two

Ty Tessman – 19/6:16.045

Ryan Maifield – 19/6:16.244

Ryan Lutz – 19/6:16.16.275

Jared Tebo – 19/6:22.276

Ryan Cavalieri – 18/6:00.513

Carson Wernimont – 18/6:01.627

Tyler Vik – 18/6:01.797

Dakotah Phend – 18/6:02.870

Chris Jarosz – 18/6:03.189

Dustin Evans – 18/6:04.715

Can anyone catch Ty Tessmann? Ryan Maifield has been the closest competitor so far, finishing right on his heels in both runs. Defending champion Ryan Cavalieri had a DNF in the first round, leaving him outside the top ten going into tonight, but with so many drivers suffering one bad run on Friday the bottom half of the 4WD grid is totally up in the air.

4WD Modified Buggy – Overall (using 2 of 2)

Ty Tessman – 0 points (0-0)

Ryan Maifield – 4 points (2-2)

Jared Tebo – 9 points (5-4)

Carson Wernimont – 10 points (4-6)

Dakotah Phend – 11 points (3-8)

Barry Baker – 18 points (7-11)

Ryan Lutz – 19 points (16-3)

Rick Hohwart – 20 points (6-14)

Cody King – 23 points (8-15)

Chris Jarosz – 27 points (18-9)

For a good portion of the final 2WD Buggy heat on Friday it looked like Ty Tessman was going to go 4-for-4 on the day, but a few crashes left Team Associated teammates Ryan Maifield and Ryan Cavalieri to settle the score – the nod went to Maifield by just half a second. Tessmann held on for third in front of a very tightly packed group, as third through tenth was separated by less than six seconds. The biggest surprise of the round came from Kyosho’s Cody Turner, who finished fourth after missing the first round completely!

2WD Modified Buggy – Round Two

Ryan Maifield – 18/6:07.495

Ryan Cavalieri- 18/6:07.904

Ty Tessman- 18/6:11.059

Cody Turner- 18/6:11.270

Dustin Evans- 18/6:13.310

Billy Fischer- 18/6:14.802

Jared Tebo- 18/6:15.470

Steven Hartson- 18/6:15.832

Kody Numedahl- 18/6:15.943

Dakotah Phend- 18/6:16.892

With Tessmann and Maifield splitting Friday’s qualifying rounds the overall grid for 2WD Buggy is even more uncertain than the 4WD class. Mathematically, only the top four are reasonably safe after just two rounds of racing as the scores below are so high that they won’t even be recognizable after qualifying finishes up tomorrow. Defending champion Ryan Cavalieri had the best turnaround in round two, improving his round finish by three spots to jump up to third overall in front of 2011 winner Dustin Evans.